AMs recommend that pharmacists have access to palliative care data in Wales

July 18 2018

Community pharmacists should be among those health professionals who are alerted to a patient being included on the Palliative Care Register, Welsh Assembly Members have recommended.

Palliative care patients and their carers should also be made aware of the role that community pharmacists can have in providing specialist advice and services out of hours.

The recommendations are made in a report by the Cross Party Group on Hospices and Palliative Care, supported by the charity Hospice UK. The report has looked at inequalities in accessing hospice and palliative care in Wales.

An estimated 23,000 people in Wales have a palliative care need every year. However, at least 6,000 people with life-limiting and terminal conditions are not receiving the expert care they would benefit from, found the report.

Mark Isherwood AM, Chair of the Cross Party Group, said: “Our wide-ranging inquiry looked in depth at the many different factors that currently limit access to palliative care in Wales.

“While there are significant challenges to overcome, there are also many examples of pioneering work by hospices and NHS providers of palliative care that are helping their services reach more people.

“As our report makes clear, an integrated approach based on effective collaboration between the NHS and voluntary sector organisations is essential if we are to radically improve access to hospice and palliative care for everyone across Wales in the future.”

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Wales has worked with the Cross Party Group and has welcomed the recommendations in the report.

“A recent survey of pharmacists carried out by RPS Wales showed that 80% of respondents did not have sight of advanced care plans for their patients, and nearly two thirds of respondents are not even made aware that patients they care for are on the palliative care register,” said the RPS in Wales.

“We were therefore particularly pleased to see a key recommendation aiming to ensure that, in addition to GPs, other professionals involved in patient care, specifically community pharmacists, are made aware when a person is included on the palliative care register.”

RPS Wales Interim Director Elen Jones added: “Our next steps will be to build on the recommendations made in this report when we publish our upcoming policy exploring in detail the role that pharmacists should play in palliative and end of life care.”

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